Oriana Vilches

The evolution of therapeutic change studied through generic change indicators

Abstract Ongoing change and therapeutic outcome were studied in five psychotherapeutic processes: three brief psychodynamic therapies, one social constructionist family therapy, and one group therapy of a comprehensive nature for drug abuse patients. Using qualitative methodology, in-session and extrasession change moments were identified and classified in a hierarchy of generic change indicators. Additionally, all patients were administered Lamberts Outcome Questionnaire. Results show that (a) extrasession change moments are more frequent toward the end of therapy, (b) therapy types differ in the frequency of some change indicators but not others, and (c) change indicators observed at the beginning of therapy are of lower level than those occurring at the end.

Language and therapeutic change: A speech acts analysis

Abstract Drawing on the speech acts theory, a linguistic pattern was identified that could be expected to be associated to therapeutic change, characterized by being uttered in the first person singular and present indicative, and by being self-referential in its propositional content. The frequency of the pattern was examined among verbalizations defined as change moments in three therapies with different theoretical orientation. Results show that the majority of change moments have the specified pattern, and that this pattern is significantly more frequent in change moments than in random non-change-related verbalizations, and so, it does not pertain to therapeutic conversation in general. Implications are discussed concerning the possibility of using the linguistic pattern as an additional and complementary criterion in the identification of moments of change in the therapeutic process.

Proceso de Cambio Psicoterapéutico: Análisis de Episodios Relevantes en una Terapia Grupal con Pacientes Adictos

En el presente articulo se presentan los resultados de una investigacion que tuvo como objetivo determinar y describir el tipo de acciones comunicacionales realizadas por terapeutas y pacientes durante las sesiones de una terapia grupal. Para esto se utilizo una metodologia orientada al descubrimiento empleando un analisis cualitativo de contenido. En los resultados se incluye tanto la descripcion de las acciones identificadas de acuerdo al nivel de analisis, asi como los patrones ideales de secuencia de dichos componentes asociados al cambio y propios de esta modalidad terapeutica. Finalmente, los resultados son discutidos considerando los principales antecedentes teoricos y empiricos en materia de investigacion en psicoterapia.